Most entrepreneurs who want to expand their business almost always go for franchising. It’s not surprising. Franchising has lower costs, compared to creating subsidiaries or whatnot. You don’t need to apply for loans or pitch to investors — it’s the franchisees’ own capital that’s going to fuel your growth. Furthermore, franchising is a much quicker route, given that franchisees will only have to replicate the business formula you already executed. The biggest challenge you’ll encounter though in franchising is creating a strong brand, something entrepreneurs would want to get their hands on badly. If you want to create an appealing brand, here are some of the strategies you should be focusing on:
Be consistent
A brand that’s consistent is a brand that can be trusted. In terms of quality, you should be able to maintain the same excellent taste of your pizzas or the same fast delivery service. This would mean getting the buy-in of suppliers, making sure that they’re on board with you. In terms of marketing messages, you should be able to stay faithful to your brand philosophy.
This means when you say you’re committed to bringing fun to the entire family with good food, your flyers, posters, social media pages, and TV ads should reflect that aura and convey that message. You can only achieve consistency in all the aspects of your business operations when you know the core identity of your brand, who you are and what you stand for. If you don’t have a good grasp of that yet, spend some time finding that first. Consultants who advise on how to start a franchise business offer insightful tips about branding. It’s a good idea to sit down with these professionals.
Strengthen your online presence
How you project your brand online makes a great impact on how people interact with your business in real life. There’s such a thing as social trust that’s built in the number of likes in your page and number of videos viewed. Make sure to strengthen your online presence and expand your digital footprint. You should have at least a website to which people can get information. Publish a blog or two every week, the how-to’s and the why-use’s. Frequent posts will not just improve your rankings on search engine results, but also help build your credibility in the industry, establishing thought leadership. Post videos and images on social media platforms as well. Engage with customers through the comments section. The principle is to keep your online image good.
Educate franchisees
You may just have a few franchisees who believe in you in the first days of your expansion. But if you invest time in getting to know them and training them, you would quickly raise an army of brand ambassadors who would organically promote your brand. Focus on making your training programs meaningful in a way that franchisees would catch your vision and at the same time, allow them to see how they can fit in in that vision. With properly trained people, you can count on them carrying your brand the way you want it to be carried.
Franchising is a route worth exploring as you plan to expand the business. If you’re thinking of going this way though, you need to build a good brand that’s also worth exploring by your would-be franchisees. Keep your eyes on that prize.
